Mailpiece sorters may be used to sort incoming or outgoing mailpieces into bins, for example. One example of a mailpiece sorter is the OLYMPUS™ II MT sold by Pitney Bowes Inc. of Stamford, Conn. Some mailpiece sorters use continuous belts to transport the mailpieces through the system. In some cases, the belts may also be used to drive one or more components of the mailpiece sorter.
In conventional mailpiece sorters, an error condition, such as a mailpiece jam, for example, may go undetected. Such error conditions may result in rapid belt deceleration that may lead to high stress levels on the continuous belts and/or other components of the system. These high stress levels may damage the components or may result in system failure.